Wooden awnings adjacent to the house

Wood is a specific building material that goes best with the wood itself. And if your house is wooden, it is most reasonable to attach a canopy from the same material. The tree is also good from the point of view that it is quite easy to process it yourself, and with an adequate approach, the owner will be able to quickly and inexpensively build the desired structure with his own hands.

A wooden canopy can be built not only for a house made of wood - wood as the main material can be used even when the building itself is built from something else. The key benefits of the tree are as follows:

• environmental friendliness and safety - in the age of all kinds of harmful plastics and synthetics, natural wood does not in any way affect our health and does not spoil the planet for our children;
• availability - Russia is a country with huge timber reserves, so there is no problem to buy timber or other derivatives;
• reliability - properly selected wood will easily serve the owners for decades, even on the street, if the material is impregnated with special compounds;
• ease of processing - unlike most competing materials, wood has the advantage that most men with hands have the skills to work with it, and no outside help is needed;
• cosiness - wood is perceived as a very warm and somewhere even native material, it creates an indescribable feeling of home comfort.

Naturally, we will lie by saying that there will be no shortcomings in a tree canopy. In terms of strength, even the best wood is inferior to both stone and metal, while being a natural material, it can be interesting for rodents, insects and other pests. In addition, wood is susceptible to the damaging effects of moisture.

A wooden canopy is a too general description of a constructive solution, which in no way specifies what such a structure looks like and for what purposes it was created. It is possible to classify adjoining and free-standing wooden sheds according to many parameters, but we will consider only two of the most simple and common ones.

The features of the canopy will differ greatly depending on what practical tasks it is designed to solve. There are many classes of canopies, depending on their purpose, but we will focus on the three most common.

• Visor. This design option is the smallest and most primitive from the point of view of construction, in most cases it involves covering some square meter in front of the exit from the building and, perhaps, the stairs adjacent to it. This is a tribute to semi-antique architecture, when the glazed windows in buildings usually did not open - the inhabitants of the house could breathe fresh air in the rain, only going out into the street, but they did not want to get wet. Today, in many architectural projects, the need for a visor is ignored, although many smokers would probably still be very grateful for it.

• Canopy terrace. A much more extended version of the previous canopy, which actually means a separate room that does not really have two or even three walls. Such an architectural solution is especially important in the hot season, since it combines the ability to hide from the rain or the scorching sun and the maximum access of fresh air from the street. The terrace is never too small, therefore it is built with reliable support beams.

• Detached utility structure. Theoretically, many outbuildings on the site can acquire the appearance of an ordinary wooden shed: from a summer kitchen to a kind of open garage for parking a car. It can also store various inventory that is not of interest to intruders.

Wooden canopies can also vary significantly in design (depending on what configuration they cover the area). From this point of view, the following types of awnings are distinguished:

• gable - imitate a classic roof, consist of two separate halves, gently sloping in opposite directions;

• shed - consisting of one inclined surface;

• straight - the canopy is covered with one layer of wood, which is not tilted anywhere;

• multifaceted - the shape of the canopy is difficult to describe in one word, it does not fit into one of the three categories mentioned above.

Although we have already decided to build a canopy from wood, we must understand that its derivatives are of completely different types, and our task is to select those types of wood that will help solve the tasks.

First of all, any solid canopy (larger than a small canopy) requires pillars. If the canopy is still not so gigantic, even beams of different diameters (usually 10-20 cm) may be enough, but thick rounded logs will have to be used for impressive terraces. The lathing and rafters are also made of timber or boards, but the diameter is not so large here - it should be chosen, focusing on the weight of the future structure and the additional load in the form of snow or gusts of wind.

Alternatively, glued timber is used, whose surface is brought to the quality of furniture., but it will be very expensive, and in an independent execution it will look too difficult.

A metal frame made of a steel profile, forged rods or pipes are used as the basis for a wooden canopy in the form of an arch. Wherein in some styles and directions, sharpened for the maximum authenticity of antiquity, no metal structures can be considered acceptable, and even timber is not welcome - instead of them, almost untreated logs and poles are used, and in some cases, you can even take dead wood from your own garden. However, the latter case requires a subtle design taste, otherwise, instead of a stylish canopy, you will get an unattractive bungalow, whipped up.

In most cases, wood should not be used as a roof as such, therefore, the visor should be covered with something on top. As a rule, inexpensive solutions are chosen, such as ondulin or polycarbonate. It is reasonable to cover the attached shed with what the house itself is covered with, unless it is an expensive tile.

At first glance, a do-it-yourself canopy made of wood may seem like a fairly simple design in order to make a drawing - once you come to this decision, the likelihood of committing a critical mistake will increase many times over.In fact, without pre-sketched diagrams with the exact parameters of all the details, it is impossible to build any - even the most primitive - structure, if only we are talking about something durable and reliable.

Before drawing up a drawing, it is imperative to answer several important questions. The first of them are what territory can be occupied by construction, how much free space is there for deploying the project. The next questions are for what purposes the canopy is being built and, therefore, what size it should be in order to meet the requirements.

Having decided on the dimensions, you can figure out which materials are best used for construction. Having solved this issue, the designer will be able to roughly calculate how much his structure will weigh. Here you need to take into account the additional load that is created by precipitation and wind - at least you need to inquire about the maximum level of snow in the last few decades in the region chosen for construction.

If you don't want to bother with a full-fledged canopy, but a large covered area is still not needed, you can quickly and cheaply (without any foundation) assemble a small visor that does not even need to be attached - it is simply nailed over the front door, but you can assemble it literally on the floor!

There are at least four possible options for the visor, differing in shape: arched, single-slope, figured and gable. For a beginner in the assembly of such structures, it is best to draw up a lean-to project - it is rightly considered the simplest and most likely to be assembled without errors. The dimensions are determined as follows: the width is more than the width of the porch by half a meter, the length is about 80 cm, the optimal slope is considered to be 30 degrees.

A light visor will be attached to the building due to the console - a kind of vertical structure, which is best assembled from a reliable bar with a section of 7.5 cm, which is able to withstand the full weight of the canopy, even with snow accumulated above and in conditions of sharp gusts of wind. For the lathing, thinner wood is suitable - the same timber can be used with a cross-section of 5 cm.At the same time, such a visor does not have parts that are reliably protected from the weather, so absolutely all material must be impregnated with hydrophobic compounds or at least painted with waterproof paint.

In this case, everything starts with a drawing, in which even slopes that cannot exceed 35 degrees should be carefully thought out. The design is drawn in such a way that any of the people living in the house feels comfortable under the canopy, and does not have to bend down.

Having prepared the necessary derivatives of wood and tools for working with it, mark the area, outlining the places for digging in supports and the general contours of the future canopy. If the groundwater in this place comes quite close to the surface, be sure to treat future supports with waterproofing compounds. In most cases, it is enough to dig them into the ground for some half a meter in depth, but on loose soils it makes sense to also concrete the holes for increased stability.

If you nevertheless chose the method of pouring concrete for the supports, no further operations can be carried out until it hardens. Here you will have to be patient, because a couple of weeks may well pass before the concrete fully sets. It is impossible to engage in strapping and creating the lathing before complete solidification, otherwise the "reliable" concreted supports will turn out to be skewed and unstable.

The rafters and lathing can be attached to the supports with nails or the more popular self-tapping screws today. At the same time, upon completion of the assembly, the entire structure must be immediately treated with special agents that protect against rotting and mold. Only after that, you should proceed to the installation of roofing materials, which are fixed in the same way - with screws or nails.

The next video shows you how to make a wooden shed for your home.